Saturn’s icy satellite Mimas is the Rick Astley of moons. It got one huge hit* and that’s all it’s been known for ever since.

But the Cassini Saturn probe sometimes sees things a little differently, and recently provided us with a sideways view of Mimas. Literally.

[Click to rickrollenate.]

On January 31, 2011, Cassini snapped this picture of the moon with the planet’s rings in the background. I really like this shot, since we see Mimas’s giant impact crater from the side. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it quite this way before.

A long time ago, Mimas got hit pretty hard with something pretty big. The apocalyptic impact carved a crater 130 km (80 miles) across in the moon, which we now call Herschel. In most pictures we see it from an angle and Mimas winds up looking an awful lot like the Death Star.

But in the big picture above the crater was almost edge-on, and you can see how seriously it messed up the moon: a pretty hefty portion of the edge of Mimas looks flat where the rim of the crater distorts the horizon. An impact this size anywhere on Earth would be, well, bad. Very very very bad. And it’s not like Mimas hasn’t suffered enough, as you can see it’s been hit thousands of times; the surface is saturated with craters.

But that’s the way it is in the solar system. A lot of debris is floating out there, and over billions of years physics cannot be denied. After all… you know the rules and so do I. If you’re a moon, those small objects are gonna run around and hurt you.

What blows my mind is that there doesn’t seem to be much deformation opposite the crater site. Often times you get mountain ranges opposite large impact sites. Did the surface heat enough that it smoothed out?

And yes, that’s what I always think when I see Mimas. That, and about the fish I once had named Mimas. (If you must know, I got the fish the same month as the Cassini Orbit Insertion. Seemed fitting at the time.)

“Since you are relucted to give us the location of the rebel base we will test this station destructive power on your home planet of Alderan” By the way George Lucas had denied that he got the look of the Death Star from Mimas (In fact I think when Star Wars came out there where no photos of Mimas yet Star Wars was released in 1977, the photos where takeing in 1980 or am I mistaken ?) Off Topic: If you looking for a good guide to Extraterrestrials the find a copy of : Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials. you will get all the info on the great sci-fi Aliens found in books including `info on there : physical characteristics, habitat,culture and reproduction and full color illstrations plus a size comparsion . A must read for all sci-fi lovers.

Always amazes Me how the people manning those missions can squeeze out the most of every possible orbit, that angle shot required some really funky timing, I don’t know how many hours or countless reiterations of simulations they’ve done, but they really do a wonderful job.

I agree with Adam @1. It’s hard to see any effect of the giant impact at the antipodes or anywhere else on the moon. No chaotic terrain, no crater chains, no rays, no nuthin’. Presumably the giant crater was created early in Mimas’ history and subsequent cratering and other resurfacing processes have wiped out such secondary signs.

Well, looking at the side view again and engaging my pareidolia and really-want-to-see-it engines, I guess I could imagine a couple of groves and a crater chain leading from the big crater antipodesward. Hopefully the planetologists will be on the case and figure it out.

Thank you for another interesting and educational blog post and for bringing more stunning cosmic imagery to the world’s attention. I appreciate it.

Well said & seconded by me.

“The apocalyptic impact carved a crater 130 km (80 miles) across in the moon, which we now call Herschel.”That sentence states that we’ve renamed the moon itself “Herschel”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. Herschel is a fine name for a moon.

It as an alternative to – & would have been better than – Uranus for that planet which Wilhelm Herschel discovered 13th March 1781 – 230 years ago this year.